Hello again. Decided the chapters (i am told they are called 'chappies', which is hilarious) were entirely too long and perhaps that was why no one was reading. So, same story, smaller chappies and a little bit extra at the end. I like it, but I need affirmation. So review! REVIEW GODAMMIT! and tell me what should happen next cause I usually don't know and that's why I don't often update. Its a win win situation, you get more fanfiction and I get more ideas. - laminarose

p.s. read atsuibelulah's Twin Roses, it's good and she's my sister.

She was dreaming. She knew she was. It was easy to tell. For one thing, she was in her junior high school uniform. Another, every thing was dark and, of all people, Clef was standing in front of her, about five yards away. He looked odd, not at all how she remembered him. He said, "How long has it been?"

"Seven years, maybe," she replied.

"A long time, Umi . . . Umi . . . Umi . . . "

She started awake. Someone was shaking her. "Umi, it's almost time for my first class," Kakeru said.

"Oh," she blinked the dust from her eyes, "Oh, Kakeru, I'm sorry I didn't make any breakfast!" He jumped onto the bed and she got out of the way just in time. He leaned over and pecked her face, just missing her mouth.

"It's okay, sweet, I did."

She smiled, "And you call me sweet." She stood up and stretched. As she dressed, Kakeru called in from the small kitchen in the split level house that served as home and work for him. "I attempted your home made biscuits or whatever they are."

"Cakes!"

"What!"

"They're cakes," she said as she walked into the kitchen.

"Okay cakes. I haven't tried any yet." They sat down at the table together and waited for one another to start. "I'm not tasting first," he declared.

"You made them," she shot back.

"Yeah, I made them for you."

"Okay, let's both take a bite at the same time." They each took a large bite and looked at each other. Kakeru spat his out first, but she forced herself to swallow. He had tried.

He laughed, "Let's just say that you cook everything from now on."

She nodded, "And if I'm not awake, order out. I don't want you accidentally poisoning yourself or something." He laughed again and for a moment they both sat, just staring at each other. Until, "Master Shidou, are you home?" A voice called from the level above the apartment.

"Oh, the class," he called up to the boy, "Yes, I'm coming!"

"It's entirely too early for kendo," she said matter-of-factly.

"It's a living," he shrugged and gave her a huge wet kiss. He ran to their room to get his equipment and she called after him, "Captain, Hikaru, and Fuu are coming to go over some things for the wedding, but I'll make sure they come in the back way"

"You could send my little sister up there. I'm sure she could give them some pointers."

"No, sir, it's strictly wedding business today."

"Dammit," he said smiling and ran up the stairs.

Umi had just finished making some tea and setting out the book of cake pictures when Fuu knocked tentatively at the door. "Miss Umi!" she called.

Umi came out of the kitchen and set the tea on the table. "Oh, hi, Fuu. Captain's going to be a little late. Have you heard anything from Hikaru? She's always early."

"Ummm, Hikaru's not coming," Fuu answered as she moved over to the table.

Umi looked up sharply and then scowled, "You know, we can't fix this if we don't talk to each other."

"I know. And I tried to tell her that. Maybe she needs a few days."

"Maybe," Umi sighed as she sat down. She continued, "I really don't want to do this without her though."

"Hikaru didn't come, did she?" a voice asked from the doorway that came from the little garden in the back.

"No."

"I wish that you would tell me what this is about. You guys never fight," Captain, Shiori Okamura and Umi's old junior high school fencing team captain, said as she entered. Though they hadn't gone to the same high school, the two women had kept in touch and were now studying the same thing in college, elementary education.

Umi and Fuu looked at each other. Fuu opened her mouth to reply, but Umi came in quicker, "It's about something that happened to us a long time ago that Hikaru doesn't want to let go of. I have let it go, and she just doesn't understand." She stood up and paced over to the door that the two of them had entered by. "You'd think she would be happy."

"It's not that she isn't happy," Fuu tried to explain, "She's confused. I think that she wants to let go of Lantis, but doesn't know how. And now that you've taken a big step and agreed to marry someone, she's a little . . . ," Fuu hesitated there, not sure how to explain feelings that weren't her own.

"It's nice of you Fuu, but I really want to hear it from Hikaru." Umi smiled somewhat tiredly, "If you guys don't mind, I uh, I really don't want to do this today." They both nodded. "I'll call you when I'm free again," she said as they left. She heard the familiar noises of Kakeru's beginner class, went to her room, and fell asleep to them.

"A long time, Umi." Clef was there, in her dreams again.

"Yes." And for the first time Umi noticed something behind him.

"Umi?"

"Yes, Clef?"

"Did you love me?"

"Yes, Clef."

"Do you love me now?"

"In a way. But not in the way I used to." The entity, the darkness behind him seemed to have eyes that watched them.

"Why not?" And a mouth that smiled as if their conversation was funny. It wasn't. She thought it was disturbing.

"Because I'm not fourteen any more."

"What does that have to do with it?" He was like a child; it seemed, so dazed and confused. This disturbed Umi even more.

"I'm not the same person I was then."

"Why not?"

"It's been seven years, Clef!" she shouted, finally shaken from the spell that had somehow been cast over her.

"A long time, Umi . . . Umi . . . Umi . . . "

Kakeru was calling her from the practice mat on the lower level. She sat up, "Yeah?" He walked into the room, "Oh, I didn't know you were in here." He put his equipment down. He didn't have another class for about two hours. He looked confused as he asked, "Did you go to sleep?" She nodded. "What happened to the wedding planning party?"

Umi flopped over and talked into the pillow, "They couldn't come."

"You mean Hikaru couldn't, or wouldn't come. Sweet, are you crying!"

"No," she said quickly and sat up to wipe her eyes. Kakeru made her face him and did it for her.

"What is this about?" he asked staring into her eyes.

"It's not just the Hikaru thing. I, I just had a very strange dream, and I haven't had my . . . I mean, I skipped a period."

"You mean . . ."

"No, I don't mean. I don't know. And if I am it couldn't have come at a worse time," she freed herself from him and started pacing, "I still have school to finish, and we aren't married yet. I just don't know." She looked at him and saw worry.

"Umi, you aren't yourself. You hardly ever worry like this, and I know I'm not supposed to know, but you are irregular when it comes to that. What is wrong?"

She sighed, "Kakeru, let's just drop it. What time is it?"

"Ten o' clock."

"Ugh, I have a class in a half an hour. That's just enough time to get there if I walk quickly."

"Oh. Umi, do you want to go to dinner tonight?"

She looked at him. He was so sweet and he really cared for her. "Umi?" he said expectantly.

She burst out, "Kakeru, you know it kills me that I can't tell you what it is we're fighting about."

"Yes, but I want to know why you can't tell me."

"Me, Hikaru, and Fuu all agreed it wouldn't be . . . wise if we told anyone. Don't you understand?" she sighed and sat down next to him, "I want you to know that it doesn't have anything to do with you. It's between me and Hikaru. And Fuu's right if it weren't for this one thing Hikaru would be so happy that we're getting married."

"Well, that makes me feel much better," he spat sarcastically.

"I'm trying you know," she pleaded. "This isn't easy for me either!"

"Really? Then why don't you just tell me?"

"Because you wouldn't believe me if I did."

"That's a stupid reason," he said in disbelief.

She was confused.

"How do you know I won't believe you?"

This was a good question and Umi didn't know the answer. "I told you, let's drop it." And she stalked out of the room and out of the house to go to her class.